


The Struggle to Find a Suitable Present for One Emily Prentiss

by dnai



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Christmas, F/F, Gifts, JJ/Emily/Happiness, Mentions of Alcohol (as a gift)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-20
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2019-03-07 08:50:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13431222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dnai/pseuds/dnai
Summary: Emily and JJ's first Christmas as a couple, and JJ struggles to find the right present. Pure fluff.





	The Struggle to Find a Suitable Present for One Emily Prentiss

It wasn’t that Emily was hard to shop for. It was just… okay. Emily was hard to shop for.

For Morgan or Rossi, the solution was easy. Alcohol. But somehow, watching her girlfriend (JJ could finally call her that!) make coffee for the two of them in the apartment that they didn’t share (yet), JJ couldn’t bring herself to spend so much on such an impersonal gift. Rossi had an excuse: everyone knew how well he knew alcohol – he was sure to get something that fit everyone’s personality  _ and _ their taste in alcohol. If she was being honest, JJ didn’t want to know how Rossi knew them well enough to make alcohol as a Christmas present seem personal in the same way Garcia’s handmade gifts were. She didn’t want to know. 

Well, maybe she did a little bit, if only so that she could use the same skills to figure out what the hell to buy Emily for Christmas. 

Spencer was easy. He kept a list of books he wanted to read year-round, and since he wasn’t a fan of technology, he kept it on a sheet of paper (until it got long enough that it warranted a file in his desk), which was easy enough to take a picture of so she could order the books. 

Hotch was easy. Something non-alcoholic, so he couldn’t use the “Unit Chief” excuse to not accept gifts from his team. JJ liked to buy him things that were practical, or something that both he and Jack would enjoy. One year, she had Garcia help her find all the pictures of Jack they could and gave him a digital picture frame. That one got a genuine smile out of him. 

Garcia was also easy to shop for. Something small and colorful she could keep in her office, like the prism paperweight Spence got for her one year. 

Rossi appreciated anything that wasn’t bad alcohol, which in his opinion, was most alcohol. Really, all you had to do to make Rossi happy was drink the alcohol he got for you and admit that it was perfect, though everyone found something to give him. It had shocked JJ when she first met him, but the man found gag gifts hilarious. 

For Morgan, JJ always baked cookies. It was rare that he got the chance to make them himself, and JJ was a firm believer that everyone should have homemade cookies around the holidays. So it became a tradition for JJ to bring him a tin of brightly decorated cookies, which he always shared with the team. 

Which left JJ sitting in front of five carefully wrapped presents in her living room, wondering what the hell to buy for Emily. What were you supposed to buy your girlfriend for your first Christmas together? Her team wouldn’t be much help. Emily was the hardest for everyone to shop for, though it had gotten easier for JJ over the years. But her gifts of coffee and chocolate didn’t seem like enough for the woman she was almost certain she was falling in love with. Nothing did. 

in the end, she settled on a glass ornament tucked in a nest of chocolates. The simple black design didn’t seem like much at first, but when Emily opened the box, she nearly cried. The ornament’s engraving was six lines long. 

**2006 – We met**

**2007 – You became constant**

**2008 – I fell**

**2009 – The calm**

**2010 – The storm**

**2011 – I swore I’d never let you go**


End file.
